Business community wants next admin to continue, accelerate Aquino’s reforms

President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered the keynote speech speech at the Nikkei 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia, an annual forum that discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region. The President discussed PH-JP relations, developments in the PH, and regional concerns. The President is in Japan for a four-day state visit, on the invitation of the Japanese government. (Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — As the country gets busy with the elections and transition of leadership next year, the business community wants the next administration to continue and accelerate the reforms started by President Benigno S. Aquino III.

National Competitiveness Council (NCC) Co-Chair for Private Sector Guillermo M. Luz said one of the concerns of investors in the leadership transition next year would be the sustainability of reforms and programs done by the current administration.

“It’s not actually the question of who will be the next president. The question for the investors is how can we sustain economic growth?” Luz said.

“We must sustain reforms… If they (next administration) reverse the reforms, the country will feel the negative impact. They must continue the reforms if you want to keep the [economic] growth growing,” he added.

Luz stressed that the next administration should also be capable of accelerating the reforms started by President Aquino, including public-private partnership projects, infrastructure programs, and K to 12 program.

“From the very beginning, they (investors) like the reforms of President Aquino,” the NCC executive added.

“A lot of our work in NCC is how we make these reforms permanent. They must be institutionalized, they must be deeply embedded. And important is people must support good reforms and must speak out against the reversal of reforms,” he noted.

The current administration has claimed that the economic gains earned by the Philippines in the past five years are backed by pushing accountability and transparency in the bureaucracy as well as its good governance.

President Aquino noted in his sixth and final State-of- the-Nation Address (SONA) on July 27 that good governance has transformed the Philippines to being Asia’s “Rising Tiger,” “Rising Star,” and “Bright Spot,” thus, attracting investments from domestic and foreign firms.

The Chief Executive mentioned that net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2014 surged to USD 6.2 billion from USD 1.07 billion in 2010, an increase of almost 500 percent.

Investments from local sources were upbeat during the current administration with the total amounting to PhP 2.09 trillion from the third quarter of 2010 to end-2014 from PhP 1.24 trillion in 2003 to 2010 period.